Trump’s Green Card crackdown: US strips Indian-origin man of citizenship for faking his identity

Indian-Origin man loses US Citizenship after DOJ flags fraud case

According to the Justice Department, Sohal was given a deportation and exclusion order in 1994 under the name Dev Singh. That meant he was supposed to leave the United States. But instead of leaving, officials said he stayed in the country and later created a new identity.

According to DOJ, Sohal then used another name and gave false personal details, including a different date of birth and a different date of entry into the US. Using that new identity, he later applied for and received American citizenship in 2005. Officials said he never revealed his earlier immigration history under the name Dev Singh in later immigration forms or proceedings.

Judge says citizenship was gained illegally

On April 13, the court ruled that Sohal got US citizenship illegally. The judge said he hid his earlier identity and immigration record, which meant he could not prove the “good moral character” required to become a naturalised citizen.

Assistant Attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the case shows the administration’s commitment to protecting the value of US citizenship. He also said cooperation between the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security helped uncover immigration and identity fraud.

Fingerprint check helped expose case

Officials said the case was investigated through the Historic Fingerprint Enrollment project, a joint effort between the Justice Department and US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

In February 2020, experts confirmed that fingerprints submitted under both identities belonged to the same person. The department said this was possible because older paper fingerprint records had been digitised by Homeland Security. The case was handled by the Justice Department’s Office of Immigration Litigation, Affirmative Litigation Unit. The Justice Department said Sohal’s case was the ninth denaturalisation action filed since January 20, 2025.

US Justice Department steps up move to cancel citizenship in hundreds of cases

The US Justice Department said on Thursday that it has sent many cases across the country to federal prosecutors to try to take away citizenship from people who became American citizens through naturalisation

This is a rare move and marks a major jump in such cases. Usually, the US government tries to cancel citizenship only in limited situations. These mostly include cases where a person lied or hid facts during the immigration process, or if they were involved in certain serious crimes that could have blocked them from becoming a citizen.

Rare process now being used more aggressively

Normally, these cases are handled by lawyers who focus on immigration law. They are not usually led by regular federal prosecutors working in US attorney offices. But this time, the Justice Department said it is moving and using offices across the country.

Matthew Tragesser, deputy director for communications at the Justice Department, said the department is strongly focused on people who cheated the naturalisation system. He said the effort is being carried out under President Donald Trump and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

According to him, the department is handling the highest number of citizenship-cancellation referrals in history with help from immigration agencies.

Tragesser said the number of referrals filed in just one year has already crossed the total number made during all four years of Joe Biden’s administration. He also said more cases are expected in the coming months.

The confirmation came after a report by The New York Times, which said around 384 cases had been sent forward for denaturalisation legal action. If correct, that would be a huge rise compared with past years.

Research shows that between 1990 and 2018, the US government filed only 305 denaturalisation cases in total. That means the current number would be larger than nearly three decades of past cases combined.